Living Nightmare
by 3DPhantom
Summary: Danny wakes up to an Amity Park that he can barely even recognize as his home, and a series of disasters befall him. What's causing all of this to happen? Why can't Danny remember anything? Is it fate? Or some twisted attack on our Ghost Boy? Click the blue lettering to open this story and discover just how deep the plot goes, or scroll away and never know what could have happened!
1. Chapter 1 - MURDER?

**A/N:** I've always been a huge Danny Phantom fan (hints my username being 3DPhantom!), but I've never written a Phantom Fan-Fiction before! Well, I guess I'm taking a shot at it! Call it a month-late Halloween story, I guess. Whether it's Halloween or not, a story is a story and as long as it's written well enough, it'll be worth reading! So, here's to hopping I can write Danny Phantom Fics well! (This is my first DP story, but not my first overall story posted on this site.)

**Set in Season One Episode "Fright Knight" (Loosely based; will make sense upon completion of story.)**

**Summary:** Danny wakes up to an Amity Park that he can barely even recognize as his home, and a series of disasters befall him. What's causing all of this to happen? Why can't Danny remember anything? Is it fate? Or some twisted attack on our Ghost Boy? Click the blue lettering that opens this story and discover just how deep the plot goes, or scroll away and never know what could have happened!

**Warnings:** Rated T for dark themes, gore, and vivid imagery. (No sexual content, little/minor cussing. Really a milder T: I'm too paranoid to put a strong K+.)

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Danny Phantom. Credit for all the characters goes to Butch Hartman and the Danny Phantom Production Crew!

**Whole Story View:** Danny-First Person (From Danny's Perspective)

**CHAPTER 1: MURDER?**

I awakened in a dark room, the silhouette of a window to my right. As my eyes adjusted to the light I recognized the confinements of the space as a warped version of my own bedroom. The walls were a deeper, darker purple than usual, as if shadows had been cast on every wall. Everything in the room was backwards, as if mirrored. The window was on the wrong side of the bed, the writing on the posters backwards, everything was wrong. It felt eerie, and somehow empty. I shivered. It was cold too; cold enough for me to see my breath with every exhale. I didn't want to be in this room any longer, that I knew, so I slipped out from under the covers and almost sprinted for the door. I slammed it behind me and sighed in relief when I found the hallway relatively normal. It was as dark and shadowed as my room had been, but at least it didn't lurch and twist in my vision.

I crept down the stairs, finding the living room completely empty. "Jazz?" I called out. There was no response, the house completely silent. It was starting to feel like I wasn't in the real world anymore. Was I in the Ghost Zone? What's the last thing I remember? What day is it even? I really don't know. A quiet knocking sound can be heard from the basement, so I go down to check out the lab.

I walk down the stairs and I can hear my parents whispering bellow. For some reason I can't explain, I don't rush down to greet them. Instead, I tread lightly and creep down the remainder of the stairs. I peek into the room. At first the lab looks normal, so I step in. I take a look around the room and finally I notice what's so impossibly out-of-place here. My parents are standing there, my mother with a scalpel in her hands and my father holding a red button. And there, chained to the wall, is _me_. Not Fenton me, but _Phantom_ me. It can't be though! I shouldn't be in two places at once!

My parents haven't seen me yet, so I quickly lift my hand and look at it. I test my powers and sure enough, upon my command, my hand disappears. I still have Phantom inside me. Or, well, I still _am_ Phantom, so why is he… why am I also chained to the wall?

Phantom raises his head and looks directly at me. He's worn out, a thin trickle of blood running from the corner of his mouth. He stares directly at me. "Please, help me," He begs. My parents turn and look at me.

"Oh, hi sweetie!" Says my mom, not at all knowing the horror I feel right now.

"Danny! You're just in time for the fun stuff!" My dad says excitedly. He presses the red button grasped within his hands and a sickening _zap_ sound emits shortly through the room. It's a sound I'm well familiar with, the sound of an electrical circuit being completed. My eyes widen as Phantom suddenly screams and begins to writhe in his chains, electricity coursing through his body. Every hair in my body stands on end as the screams drag on, a ghostly wallowing filling the confinements of the room.

"Mom, dad! Please! Stop! You're hurting him!" I beg, still not moving any closer to my parents. I remain by the stairs, ready to run if I have to. Part of me wants to take the button from my father, but another part of me is too afraid. Is it my ghost part that wants to defend itself and grab the button, or the ghost part of me that wants to run and avoid the same fate as the Phantom me on the wall?

"Danny, now don't be silly!" My mom says cheekily, as if nothing is wrong. Can't she hear the desperation in my voice? Doesn't she care?

"Since when do we care if a ghost gets hurt?" My dad asks, as equally happy as my mom is.

Phantom screams and writhes in pain as my father twists a knob, turning up the electricity. I can tell that Phantom can't take much more of this, so I try again to beg.

"Please, stop! You'll kill him!" I take a half step forward, accompanied by an outward gesture.

"Now, don't be silly Danny! He's already dead! He's a ghost, honey!" My mom laughs at me, like I'm being completely ridiculous. She may not think Phantom can die, but I know better. I've been him, a ghost. I've had my life threatened, been just moments away from death before. I know what it feels like to be a ghost, teetering between living and dead. I know that even as a ghost, death is still a possibility. I've felt it before on numerous occasions.

I can tell Phantom is slipping now, so I run forward.

"Dad, please, stop! Don't!" I yell and latch onto his arm. He jerks away from me, sending me falling backwards onto the ground. My parents ignore me, all of us watching as Phantom loses, tipping over the edge. His screams cut off, his head droops, and I know he's dead. His skin becomes paler than I ever thought imaginable. He becomes more and more transparent, as if shifting between here and a new plain of reality, deeper and darker than the Ghost Zone. The room becomes freezing cold, a breeze echoes and bounces off the walls.

"We're underground. There shouldn't be a breeze…" My parents don't seem to hear me as my mom takes her scalpel and attempts to cut into Phantom. She succeeds in first cutting a slice down his arm, a thin, pale green liquid slowly dripping down, slicker and smoother than red blood. The winds grow stronger before a deep roaring sound fills the room. Several ghosts appear, all hazy shapes that I can't quite make out. My dad looks around at the added figures in the room.

"Hey, what's going on?" He asks in confusion. To my utter horror, those are the last words I'll ever hear my father say because the dark figures raise shadowy, undefined hands and a red light pierces the room. My father falls to the ground, dead. My mother screams, and moments later she collapse too. I can't take any more. Every fiber in my being is telling me to run, so I do. I run out of the room and up the stairs, not daring to look back at my parents one last time in fear of seeing those shaded forms again.

Was that the price paid for killing a ghost? Was there judgment passed down upon those who killed ghosts, just like those who kill humans find punishment? Was the punishment for killing a ghost truly complete obliteration? A soul incapable of moving on to an afterlife, or of remaining as a ghost?

**A/N: **Please Review. I hope I did well enough.


	2. Chapter 2 - AMITY PARK

**A/N: **Hello! You've made it to Chapter Two! I'm glad! That, presumably, means that Chapter One wasn't terrible enough to send you off screaming! Well, here's the next chapter. Please enjoy and review when you're done. X)

_Was the punishment for killing a ghost truly complete obliteration? A soul incapable of moving on to an afterlife, or of remaining as a ghost?_

**CHAPTER 2: AMITY PARK**

I'm pulled from my frantic thoughts as I find myself suddenly bursting through the doors to Casper High School. The halls are full of dull colors, my average classmates walking to their classes, but with dull, unseeing expressions on their faces and no color to their skin or clothes. I walk up to Kwan.

"Hey, Kwan, are you okay?" He doesn't appear to hear me. He just walks past me with a blank stare. I continue down the hall, people bumping into me without adjusting their course or recognizing my presence. I'm completely invisible to them. It's like I don't even exist. Even as I find Mr. Lancer and wave my hand in his face, he stares on blankly, as if I never existed to begin with.

The only person in the whole school who I find can see me is Dash. He's talking to Paulina, but when he sees me he approaches and Paulina walks away as if she doesn't have a purpose in standing nearby anymore.

"What's up, Fen-turd? Ruin anyone's life yet today?" My mind briefly flashes to my parents.

"W-what's it to you, Dash? How can you see me? How come no one else can see me?" I ask timidly.

"They only see you if I want them to see you!" Dash responds. "I run this school! I'm the one in charge here!" I cringe as a sudden punch to the face sends me into some lockers. "And I'm declaring it beat-on-Fenton day!"

Everyone in the school stops and looks at us, except for Mr. Lancer who turns a blind eye and walks away. I cringe as Dash sends another punch my way, this time hitting my gut and leaving me gasping on the ground. I try to catch my breath, but another pain spikes sharply in my side as Dash kicks at me. I roll into a fetal position, trying my best to protect my vital organs and trying to prevent the pain as blow after blow comes at me.

I could easily go ghost right now and beat Dash to a pulp! I shouldn't be taking this! I shouldn't be afraid of a school bully… but for some reason I am. I'm afraid of him or, maybe, of what he can do. If he pushes too hard, I might snap. There's no telling how far I would go if I decided to fight back. Maybe what really scares me isn't even Dash, but myself. The one historical quote I know; "There's nothing to fear but fear itself." In this case, I suppose it's true. I don't fear Dash, or the other people in this school. It's all on me. I'm only afraid of myself, of what I might do. And I can't let that happen.

As blow after blow come down on me, I make a decision. If I let him keep going then I'm going to snap, I'm going to have to fight back, and I can't rely on anyone else to help me. So instead I do the only other thing I can think of. I turn intangible. Dash's fist flies right through my head, passing harmlessly. He jumps back a little, startled.

"What the…?" He questions as I stare up at him, my skin slightly opaque and barely seeable color. Dash stares down at me. "You… you're a freak!" Dash yells. Everyone in the school begins to either laugh or shriek and lean away in fear. I stand, still intangible, and look around at the people who are afraid. Among them I see Paulina and Kwan. Dash and Star are laughing, chants of "looser" and "freak" echoing around me and through the crowd. For the second time today, all I can manage to do is run away. I pull a disappearing act, suddenly vanishing before their eyes. I walk through the walls and straight out of school.

I have to find Sam and Tucker and figure out what happened. In a flash of light I Go Ghost and fly towards Sam's house. She isn't there so I check Tucker's house, Sam's favorite Gothic book store, and even the bowling alley. All of these places turn up completely empty and devoid of life. Finally I land at the Nasty Burger. There are people inside, but as soon as I enter I realize that no one is moving. A man in one of the booths to the left has a burger in his hands, his mouth open, and he's frozen that way. He doesn't move an inch. A lady at the cash register has dropped a few dollar bills. The bills float in mid-air in front of her, her face frozen in an expression of surprise. I look around and in the booth Sam tucker and I usually occupy are my friends. Sam has a bored expression on her face, resting her head on her hand, and she isn't moving, isn't breathing. She's completely still. Tucker has a fist full of fries in his mouth and another fist full is raised in front of his face. A few fries that he has dropped hang in mid-air, just like the lady at the cash register's money. I wave my hand in front of Sam.

"Sam? Can you hear me?" She doesn't respond, doesn't move, she doesn't even blink. I'm a bit worried now. What's causing all this? "Sorry Sam, but this is the only way I can think to try and move you," I apologize as I go intangible and attempt to overshadow Sam. I enter her body without restriction. Once I'm in I can move her. I stand, moving out of the booth. I look down, thinking about how weird it is to be in Sam's body. Subconsciously, I search for Sam's mind. Whenever I overshadow a person I can feel their consciousness beneath mine, but I can't sense Sam inside. It feels more like I've stepped into a doll rather than into my best friend. There's no mind left, as if she were dead…

But I can't allow myself to think that. I walk to the clear double doors of the Nasty Burger and open them. Hopefully if I walk her out of the time-warped zone in the restaurant she'll wake up. As soon as we exit I slip out of her body. She stands, for a moment, swaying on her feet before collapsing. "Sam!" I hear myself call her name and catch her before she can hit the ground. Her eyes stare blankly up at the gray sky, not moving. She doesn't breathe, her skin is cold, I can't feel a single movement in her, or any warmth. "Sam, please, wake up…" I plead, but there's no response. I know now that she's dead too, which probably means that so is everyone else in the Nasty Burger, including Tuck. I just can't bring myself to believe it.

"Sam, please, wake up! Don't you dare do this to me!" Still there's no response.

Tears well up in my eyes. This can't be happening! There's enough reason to believe that none of this is real, like the time zone and warped appearance of colors, but at the same time it feels so real, and I can't completely rule out the possibility that everything I've seen is really happening. My instincts are telling me that it's all painfully real, but I don't want to believe it. Logically, I think Amity Park may be in the Ghost Zone and that's why all of these weird things have been happening. I can feel the pressure and the cold chills I always get when I'm in the Ghost Zone. When I'm in the zone I always get shivers, and I'm cold. I definitely feel that way right now. Logically, there's no way that this _can't_ be real. It _has_ to be. Nothing unreal could hurt this much, could be so terrifying. Everyone I know and love is gone, dead. Everyone…

Except maybe Jazz; I haven't found her yet. All I can hope is that she's okay, hiding somewhere in this Hellish place.

**A/N:** I know some of you are probably pissed by now because I'm killing off, like, all of the main characters. Seemingly just to, I don't know, be rude to Danny or something, but I promise it has relevance! Don't be mad until you've finished the story; pretty please.

Also, updates WILL be regularly from now on! Every Wednesday!

Please Review! I would greatly appreciate it!


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